Students at Dows Lane Elementary School and Main Street School welcomed prominent members of the community as special guest readers at each school during the annual World Read Aloud Day on February 5th.
With the common theme of this year’s World Read Aloud Day being kindness, each guest greeted the students, discussed what it means to be kind, and read from The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig.
“All of our students were mesmerized by the story and the visiting readers,” Dows Lane Principal Andrea Kantor said.
Among the readers were Superintendent of Schools Dr Kristopher Harrison and Irvington Police Chief Michael Cerone, as well as local politicians, authors, journalists and teachers. Irvington Middle School Principal David Sottile, Irvington High School Principal Juliet Gevargis-Mizimakoski, former Irvington High School Principal Scott Mosenthal, Board of Education President Brian Friedman, Board of Education vice presidents Maria Kashkin and Maura Gedid, and Board of Education trustees David Graeber, Michael Hanna, and Beth Propper also read books to the students.
“We were thrilled that with the support of the PTSA, all students in K-5 participated in this event again this year,” Main Street School Principal Joyce Chapnick said. “We were also excited to join people around the world on this day, raising awareness of the importance of access to literacy worldwide.”
The event was sponsored by the PTSA Legislative Strategic Advisory Committee, while the worldwide event was spearheaded by the international literacy nonprofit LitWorld International Inc. In addition, Main Street School hosted a fundraiser for Pajama Program, a nonprofit organization that promotes and supports a comforting bedtime routine to help all children thrive by providing pajamas and books
